LAHORE: A new war could begin if Pakistan does not step up its fight against terrorists, Maj Gen Jeffrey J Schloesser of the US Army said in a report published in an American weekly on Sunday.

“If militants escape into Pakistani territory and Islamabad does not step up, a new kind of war could well begin,” he said.

According to the report, Gen Schloesser, who leads 19,000 US soldiers operating on the frontier, estimates that his forces are facing some 7,000-10,000 insurgents in eastern Afghanistan – a higher number than previously disclosed by any US commander.

He said he planned to keep his troops operating deep inside Taliban territory this winter. He hoped they would be able to take advantage of the mobility to seek out any safe havens and facilitation areas and any places the terrorists can go for ‘rest and recreation’ in Afghanistan. He said he would give terrorists the options to flee, get killed or captured, or reconcile.

Confidential to Governor Palin: this is the Bush Doctrine at work. And by the way: back when it was called the McNamara Docitrine, and the countries were Cambodia and Laos, it didn’t work out that well. Next question for the Governor: is Pakistan a politically unstable nuclear-armed state? Take your time.